Winsted man to spend five years in prison for picking up kilos of cocaine at Winsted post office

WINSTED >> A Winsted man accused of shipping cocaine and hundreds of thousands of dollars to a Winsted post office will spend 15 years in prison suspended after five years, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to sell narcotics.Willie Algeiry Mejia, 26, 504 Main St., Apt. C4, Winsted, accepted 10 packages over seven months in 2012 filled with cash and cocaine for the “big guy” in Waterbury, according to an arrest warrant. Affidavits also accuse Mejia of keeping a loaded .32 caliber semi-automatic, unlicensed handgun stashed above his kitchen cabinets.Court personnel called Mejia's presentence investigation relatively positive, noting he had no prior convictions.“The problem is there was a significant amount of narcotics involved, there was a significant amount of money involved, there was a firearm involved,” said state's attorney David Shepack.“This prospect of getting involved in the drug trade is enticing,” said Judge James P. Ginocchio. “There are young people who don't want to work, they want to sell drugs. You can make a tremendous amount of money, I'm told,” said Ginocchio.The Puerto Rico native began accepting the packages after he was approached by the same “big guy,” described as “Hispanic male” in court affidavits, with an offer to pay Mejia $3,000 for each package he accepted and delivered to the man in Waterbury, and $1,000 for each package the man had to pick up from Winsted.According to Mejia in the same police affidavit, Mejia is not nearly the only one accepting packages for the “big guy.Connecticut State Police were tipped off to the alleged drug running scheme by a confidential informant.Mejia said that although he has “no idea” where the packages originate from in Puerto Rico, there are others accepting packages in Torrington, Bridgeport, Danbury, Hartford and Waterbury.Police say Mejia admitted to accepting 10 packages filled with cash and kilos of cocaine. Packages containing cash had $100 bills bundled in amounts of $10,000. One package of cash contained $120,000, others had between $50,000 and $80,000.Paraphrasing Mejia, police wrote that Mejia said, “he never saw money like that before and never opened the packages.” Mejia was paid out of the same packages, described as vacuum-sealed, clear plastic bags of cash.Kilos of cocaine were wrapped in black tape, then a layer “grease,” then placed into a pink plastic container, such as plastic toy building blocks are sold in, then placed in Styrofoam, then into cardboard, according to police.The packages were all about 12 by 10 by eight inches, and weighed about four pounds. A kilo alone weighs about 2.2 pounds, and the same amount of uncut cocaine has a wholesale value of about $33,000. The street value of a kilo of cocaine is about $120,000 after it is cut with a variety of substances to extend the bulk of the drug, both according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies' 2000 release on the drug.Although the incidents involving Mejia's acceptance of cash and cocaine-filled packages are both occurred in winter of 2012, in January and February, police did not arrest Mejia until March 19, 2013. Court files did not provide insight to why police delayed charging Mejia.Currently, Mejia was charged with two separate counts of attempt to commit a sale of certain illegal drugs and two separate counts of conspiracy to commit a sale of certain illegal drugs, all four are felonies. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sell narcotics, and received a five year mandatory minimum sentence.Reach Jessica Glenza at 860-489-3121 ext. 324.